One of my son’s favorite parts of the holiday season is the gathering around food in a warm kitchen with family and friends.  The smells are heavenly, the air is warm and comforting in the kitchen, and for just a little while there’s nothing else to think about but the comfort of home, and the people you’re with.

So many of our holidays have been spent with other families.  Grandma Glenda and Grandpa Willie, Nanny, Barb — they spent a lot of years sharing their traditions with us, as well as those of my Aunt Rebecca and cousins.  The memories are priceless and from those gatherings, our own holiday traditions have grown.

Growing up with these gatherings, Matt developed his own vision of what “his” Thanksgiving or Christmas meals should look like; what makes him happy.  For my part, his memories of our holiday meals are one of my gifts to him for the rest of his life.

Over the years I’ve accumulated a number of favorite recipes for the holidays and this download is that compilation.  None of the recipes are truly my creations, but they’re my recipes taken from many sources that I’ve tweaked and improved for our family.

I hope everyone enjoys their holidays and if you find something delicious to try, share with me!

Homemade Hamburger Buns

Sunday in January.  It is 18 degrees outside.  I am cleaning my house, dressed in sweats with no makeup on.  I’m not leaving unless I **have** to leave.  I mean, this house would have to be on fire.  And it would have to be a fire I couldn’t manage myself.  I am not leaving.

In the slow cooker I’ve got a pork loin roast cooking to make pulled pork.   Then it hits me.  I have no buns, or bread for that matter, in the house.  I could get dressed and go buy buns, but I really, really don’t want to.  Really.

Oh, wait.  I’ve got this awesome appliance called a bread machine.  In fact, I have two of them – and a Kitchen Aid mixer with a dough hook.

The first bread machine was released in Japan in 1986.  It is a home appliance for baking bread whose pan consists of a tall, square-ish tube at the bottom of which are one or more built-in paddles.  The pan locks into the center of a small special-purpose oven.  There’s your Wiki lesson for the day.

Oh, for future reference, I never bake in my bread machine, I just make dough.  I dislike the shape and denser texture of the bread baked in the bread maker, so I dump the dough ball out into a loaf pan, let it rise again, and then bake.

Back to the machine:  Once upon a time these handy machines cost several hundred dollars each – some still may – but as they became more popular, the prices went down.  They are also huge.  In my kitchen I’d lose an entire counter to a bread maker.  When it comes to the whole “how much of my kitchen counter is this thing going to occupy” question, the answer in my case is “most of it.”  Considering the amount of counter or storage space the machine takes, and how infrequently most folks use them, I found bread machines have become quite popular garage sale and Craigslist finds.  I found both of mine as free giveaways on Freecycle.org.  They live in my garage.

I love my bread machines.  And they love my hips.  Carb heaven.

Off to find a recipe.  There are a million of them.  I like simple recipes without any exotic ingredients, stuff I could normally have in my kitchen.  That usually eliminates a large number of recipes.  Then I tweak – sometimes a lot – to make the recipe my own.

I had thought hamburger buns would be a lot more exotic than they turned out to be.  In fact, they’re surprisingly simple.  I usually try each recipe I find as written the first time, and tweak afterwards, but I’ve used my bread machines enough to know what I need to do to make the perfect bread.

Oh, and on the subject of flours – oh, look!  Squirrel! – I never buy bread flour.  I use all purpose flour keep a box of vital wheat gluten on hand for baking bread, especially breads that incorporate wheat flour.  While some folks don’t add gluten, I do, because it gives that nice elasticity you need and the dough tends to rise higher resulting in a softer, airier loaf.  So in the recipe below, if you’re using all bread flour, you don’t have to add the vital wheat gluten.  However, like I say, I use just plain old all purpose flour and add gluten.

I also rarely, if ever, sift.  I should, I just dislike doing it.

Homemade Hamburger Buns

1-1/4 c milk, slightly warmed (I zapped it for about a minute in the microwave)

1 beaten egg

2 tbsp butter, softened

1/4 c white sugar

3/4 tea salt

1-1/4 c whole wheat flour

2-1/2 c white flour*

3 tbsp vital wheat gluten*

1-1/4 tea active dry yeast (one packet)

(If you don’t have wheat flour, or want white bread buns, using 3-3/4 c all purpose flour and is more than acceptable.)

1.      Place all ingredients in your bread machine pan in the order suggested by your manufacturer (usually liquids first, then dry ingredients, then yeast in a well in the center of the dry ingredients)

2.      Set the machine for the dough cycle setting and process.

3.      When the dough cycle is complete, turn the dough ball out onto a lightly floured surface.  Divide the ball into 12 balls.  I usually start by dividing in half, then half again, then thirds.

4.      Form round balls with each ball, then gently pat into patties.  With a rolling pin, roll each ball until flat and about the size of a hamburger bun.  You’ll have to gently turn each dough patty and roll both sides because the dough is very elastic and will snap back into a ball if you’re not patient with your rolling.

5.      Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper (or you can lightly grease them) and place six buns per sheet, leaving plenty of space between each bun.

6.      Lightly brush each bun with an egg wash and a pastry brush for that lovely golden top.  (Egg wash is one beaten egg with a dab of water or milk.)  Do not over apply the wash.

7.      Place both sheets in a warm dry spot, cover with a cloth, and let rise for at least an hour.

8.      Preheat oven to 350F and when the dough has risen to double, bake for 9-10 minutes until golden.

OMG.  These things are wonderful.  Light, fluffy and so fresh tasting.  Who would have thought such a simple thing would have made me so happy to make.

It would take us weeks to eat 12 buns, and without preservatives, they’ll mold pretty quickly.  I wrap each bun in plastic wrap, then drop the wrapped buns into a freezer zip top bag.  The double wrapping help keep ice crystals from forming and making your defrosted buns soggy.

Outtake:

Here’s a picture of my sandwich — and a reason to pay attention to the background when taking pictures for publication.

Download an 8-1/2″ x 11″ recipe card:  Homemade Hamburger Buns

I’m a big fan of coffee cake – I never developed the taste for coffee, but I’m all about the cakes that go with it.  My predilection may be because coffee cakes are full of all the fattening things in life, like butter and sour cream or cream cheese  –  and don’t contain coffee.  Throw some fat into a sweet, tender cake, and I’ll be right over.

I apologize for the picture here – I made this cake for a birthday gathering at work, and forgot to take a picture before I left home.  By the time I remembered at the office, this is what was left, which I think means it turned out well – despite us all.  You would think grown, employed people would remember when someone says, “I’m taking Monday off for my birthday.”  But no, we all had our treats for our gathering made for a Monday morning meeting, to which the intended recipient was not present.  I suppose the good news is we all managed to remember over a weekend to bring treats on Monday morning.  Despite the lovely cookies, muffins and cake staring at us on Monday morning, we shamed one another into abstaining until Tuesday.  I’d call it willpower, but we all know it was group shaming.  Nobody wanted to be “that person,” the one that cut the cake, took a muffin, or messed up the pretty cookie display before the recipient got to see them.  So the cake sat from Sunday evening to Tuesday morning.  I was afraid it would dry out, even in my 50-year-old covered cake-taker, but I’m happy to report it stayed moist and tasty.

Oh, by the way, did you know that National Coffee Cake Day is April 7th?  Yeah, I didn’t either.  But I have since learned that National Coffee Cake Day is sandwiched between National Caramel Popcorn Day on April 6th, and National Empanada Day on April 8th.  And, National Sandwich Day is November 3rd.

Awesome Cinnamon and Sugar Coffee Cake

Cake Ingredients

1 cup sour cream

3/4 cup butter, softened

3/4 cups white sugar

3/4 cups brown sugar

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 eggs

Filling Ingredients

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1/4 cup white or brown sugar

1/4 cup finely chopped pecans  (I didn’t have any pecans the first time I made the cake.  It doesn’t *need* them, but I’m imagining they would make this cake even more awesome.)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease one 10 inch Bundt pan with a moderate amount of shortening; don’t skimp, but don’t get carried away either.  Instead of powdering the surface with flour, I mixed up about two tablespoons of a cinnamon sugar blend, light on the cinnamon, and floured the pan with that.  Be aware cinnamon can burn, so go light on the cinnamon on this step.

Cream sugar and eggs until well blended, then add the sour cream and butter or margarine and beat well. Slowly beat in the flour, baking soda, and baking powder, mixing thoroughly. Beat in vanilla.

STOP!  Don’t pour it all into your pan yet!

Mix the remaining 1/4 cup sugar with the cinnamon and nuts separately in a small bowl.

NOW you can pour your batter – but only half!

Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan. It will be thick, and you’ll need to spread it around a bit with a spatula.  Once you’ve poured in half the batter, make a little trough around the middle, then sprinkle your small bowl of cinnamon, sugar, nut mixture over the entire cake.  Now pour on the remaining cake batter, to cover it all up.

Bake at 400 degrees F for 8 minutes, then lower your oven to 350 degrees F and bake for an additional 40 minutes.

Cool on a rack until you can pick up the pan and turn it.  Turn out onto a rack and continue to cool.  Once thoroughly cooled, glaze with your favorite glaze.

Coffee Cake Glaze

2 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup butter, softened

2 Tbsp. whole milk or heavy cream

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Cream all ingredients together until thoroughly incorporated and spreading consistency.  Fill an icing bag, or if you’re cheap like me, a sandwich bag, snip the corner, and pipe the glaze over the cake.

Store covered and be prepared for many oohh’s and aahh’s when served.

It’s 104°F outside.  Not exactly “soup” weather, but I’ve sworn off usage of all massive heat producing equipment in my house — no daytime dishwasher use, no dryer use (I’m letting Mother Nature and her 104°F fury dry my clothes outside), and no oven.

Surprisingly, not using the oven has been more limiting than I initially thought and has forced a bit of grill and stovetop creativity.  I’ve broken out the pressure cooker for pot roast, grilled everything from salmon and tuna to steak and kabobs.  Ready for something different, I decided to try beans in the pressure cooker again today.

One of my favorites, Navy Bean soup, I’ve always made in a crockpot.  My problem with that is not only do you have to cook beans 8 to 10 hours in a crockpot, you have to soak beans at least 12 hours before you cook them.  That’s more prep than I’m capable of preplanning for on most days.

The pressure cooker has always intrigued me, and one of the first things I made in a pressure cooker was homemade bean glue … I mean, soup.  It was thick, and had a glue-like consistency.  And it smelled funny.  I have not tried it again, until today.  And today’s try was absolutely a resounding success.

First, you can’t get away from the presoak.  I’m sure there are many “quick” methods, but for me, the 12 hour soak cannot be replaced.  Buy a package of 15 bean soup mix* and put the beans in a pot and cover with 2 quarts of water.  Cover the pot and walk away for 12 hours (an overnight soak is perfect).  When the soak time is over, rinse the beans and pick out debris.  Now you’re ready to cook.

15 Bean Soup

1-1 pound bag of 15 Bean Soup beans*.  Discard the seasoning packet.
1 smoked ham hock
2 Tbsp. oil
1 cup chopped celery (about two ribs)
1 carrot, shredded
1 medium onion, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
1 Tbsp. Italian seasoning
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 bay leaf
1 48 oz. can chicken broth and enough water added to make 2 quarts
Additional cooked, chopped ham (optional)

Soak the beans overnight in 2 quarts of water.  You’ll discard the seasoning packet and the soak water.

In your pressure cooker, heat oil and saute the celery, onion, jalapeno and carrot just until tender.

Once the veggies are tender, add ham hock, beans, seasonings and 2 quarts of liquid.  Heat to boil, lower heat and simmer 10 minutes.  After simmer, cover the pressure cooker, lock the lid and bring to full pressure.  Reduce heat to maintain a steady hiss, and pressure cook for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, remove from heat and allow pressure to release naturally.  Once you’re able to remove the lid, remove the ham hock and set aside to cool.  Once cool, remove any meat on the hock and return it to the pot, along with any additional cooked ham you wish to add at this point.

Dish up and serve!

*If you want to make your own 15 bean mix, I found a site that suggesting combining 1 pound each of dried black beans, red beans, kidney beans, navy beans, great northern beans, baby lima beans, large lima beans, pinto beans, green split peas, yellow split peas, black eyed peas, red lentils, green lentils, brown lentils and cranberry beans.  The advantage of making your own mix is of course you can leave out beans you don’t care for (I am so not a fan of large lima beans).  I’ve never seen cranberry beans in my life, and if I actually find them, I’ll certainly post where.  I’m actually curious as to how making your own mix might compare, cost-wise, to buying the one pound packages at the store.

Random on.

My random discovery for today is so simple, I wish I’d known earlier.

To make waffles that are light as air, use a dry mix — or make your own dry mix — that calls for adding an egg.  Before you add your egg, separate it.  Mix the yolk with the other liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients.  In a separate, small bowl, whip your egg white until stiff peaks form.  Fold the whites into the batter and use as usual.

Your waffles will be so light and airy!

Oh, try a teaspoon or so of cinnamon next time you make waffles too.

Random off.  You may now continue your day 🙂

It’s Shake ‘n Bake, an ah hailped!

If you’re not close to or in your 50s, you probably won’t remember that classic commercial.  Or, if you’re like my teenager, you won’t know what Shake ‘n Bake is at all.  (How did I manage that?)

Shake ‘n Bake is a dry crumble coating that comes in a box and has been around since 1965.  You put your crumble and raw chicken/pork/whatever into a big bag and shake it until the meat is coated.  Then you oven fry it while you go watch the news.  Beats standing over a deep fryer all night frying two pieces of chicken at a time, or spattering grease all over your stove while you are pan frying.  It’s kind of a pre-convenience convenience food.  It requires a little bit of effort, and those early cooks probably even wore their aprons while cooking with it.  It’s not quite a box meal though, and you feel like you’ve actually cooked a meal when you’re done.  The bonus is when you cook chicken this way, it comes out of the oven crispy on the outside and moist and tender on the inside.

I hadn’t bought or thought about oven frying chicken in years; I usually deep fry.  I spotted a sale on chicken drumsticks and thighs at the store this week for 99 cents a pound and after staring at two trays of thighs in my fridge and really, really not wanting to stand over the stove cooking them, I went hunting for a copycat recipe for Shake ‘n Bake.

So what’s in Shake ‘n Bake?  Turns out, not much after all.  It’s crushed corn flakes and some spices and coloring.  After a little Internet searching, here’s my version of a copycat Shake ‘n Bake coating recipe.

Crispy Oven Fry Coating, Original Flavor

1-1/3 cup crushed corn flakes (I measure after I crush the corn flakes)
1 tbsp. flour (generously heaping)
1 tsp. dehydrated minced onion
2 to 2-1/2 tsp. garlic salt (if you’re watching salt, try using garlic powder in a smaller amount)
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. ground mustard
A dash of Cayenne (optional, if you like a bit of spice)
A dash of sugar (optional, the Shake ‘n Bake box says it contains dextrose, so there’s some sweetness in the original product. I don’t think it needs it.)
1 tbsp. vegetable oil

1 egg, beaten
1/2 to 1 cup milk

5-6 chicken thighs and/or drumsticks (or whatever pieces you like)

Preheat the oven to 400F.  Mix all dry ingredients together into a large plastic food bag, then lightly drizzle the vegetable oil into the dry ingredients and shake well to incorporate.

Mix the egg and milk together and dunk two pieces of chicken at a time.  Shake off the excess liquid and then immediately place the chicken in the corn flake mixture.  Shake the bag until the chicken is thoroughly coated (the flour is the important part of this, enabling the coating to stick, so don’t skimp on the flour in your mix).  Place the coated pieces on an ungreased foil lined cookie sheet.  Repeat until you have all your chicken coated.  Bake 20 minutes for boneless chicken and 45 minutes for bone-in chicken pieces, or until the juices run clear.  Occupy yourself surfing Facebook while you wait.  Bonus tip:  if you line the cookie sheet just right, you don’t even have to wash it when you’re done.  Winning.

My 17 year old loved — I mean loved — this stuff.  He used the words “tender” and “juicy” in a coherent sentence to describe it.  My husband also raved over it and said it was just perfect.  I was reading comments on the Web, and lots of folks premake their mix and store in a sealed jar in their pantry.  Seems like if you don’t have a lot of other uses for corn flakes and you don’t want to waste the rest of your box, that’s a really good idea.

Bonny petite y’all.

Friday evening, it’s been a long week.  It’s been cold and gloomy all day, threatening to rain/spit snow all afternoon.  It’s the perfect night for a quick fix dinner of my favorite homemade chicken noodle soup.  It goes together fast and is a great use for leftovers.  Here’s my recipe:

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Chicken Noodle Soup

In a large pot with lid, melt about a tablespoon of butter and saute:

1/2 c. chopped onion
1/2 c. celery
1/2 to 1 c. shredded carrot

When the onion is tender and translucent, add:

58 oz. Chicken Broth  (I used a combination of frozen homemade turkey broth, and canned broth.  Remember that homemade turkey broth I made a while back? )
14 to 16 oz. Vegetable Broth (I make and freeze vegetable stock too, but for this recipe I used canned broth)
1/2 lb. cooked chicken, cut up (I used turkey leftover from Thanksgiving that I had frozen)
1/2 tsp. dried basil
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1 Bay Leaf
1 chicken bouillon cube (or add salt to taste, not both)
pepper to taste

Bring to a rolling boil and stir in 1-12 oz. package of Reames frozen egg noodles.  Reduce heat low enough to maintain a good simmer, partially cover the pot and cook until the noodles are done — tender, but still firm — about 20 minutes.

Serve hot with your favorite bread.  Tonight, I chose to throw together a copycat version of a popular sit-down seafood chain’s cheesy biscuits.

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Copycat Cheesy Biscuits

Preheat oven to 400°F.  In a large bowl, and using a pastry cutter or fork, cut together:

2-1/2 cups Bisquick (I used my own homemade “Missouri Mix”)
4 tbsp. Butter cut into pats, cold

Cut just until the mix forms chunks the size of small peas.  Stir in:

3/4 c. Milk
1/4 tsp. Garlic Powder
1 c. shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese (I like the finely shredded kind)

Drop onto an UNgreased baking sheet using an ice cream scoop.  Should make a dozen or so biscuits.  Bake 15 to 17 minutes until golden brown on top.  Remove from oven and brush lightly with:

1 tbsp. melted Butter
1/4 tsp. Garlic Powder
1/4 tsp. dried Parsley Flakes

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My mom was always the Queen of the Obvious, and I think she would have said, “Mmmm, warm.”

Tomorrow is 2012.  I stopped making resolutions long ago, but a little tiny bit of me wants to hang on some New Year’s traditions, so today I am concentrating on “lucky” foods.

I started with making some homemade turkey stock.  The bargain lover in me is thrilled with the idea that homemade chicken/turkey stock is essentially repurposed refrigerator garbage.

Today’s stock was made with turkey necks and innards leftover from Thanksgiving.  I froze them thinking I’d throw them out on the next trash day, and kept forgetting them.  I realized today I needed some fresh veggies for my various New Year’s experiments, so after a trip to the Kansas City City Market, it was time to clean out the crisper trays in the fridge to make room.  The limp celery, sprouting onion, dried out carrot and frozen turkey necks have been turned into turkey broth that will be incorporated into a Lentil Soup and some Spicy Black-Eyed Peas.  I follow the basic recipe here:  http://allrecipes.com/recipe/basic-chicken-stock/detail.aspx

Can I just say I love the City Market?  I love the City Market.  14 dollars and I had a trunk full of freshness, including 20 pounds of potatoes, napa cabbage, peppers of various colors and sizes and a bunch of other stuff.  I couldn’t pass up the potatoes, even though I am seriously considering the “no whites” diet in the new year.  Okay, not “seriously”, but thinking about it.  Sort of.  I’ll have to make use of my potatoes first.

Back to my New Year’s menu.  The Spicy Black-Eyed Peas are in the crockpot.  I hate black-eyed peas.  Always have.  But for the last few New Year’s, for various reasons, I have attempted to make black-eyed peas I can get behind.  Today’s trial has a diced jalapeno and some ground cumin and cayenne.  If I like it, I’ll post the recipe.  It smells pretty awesome so far.

Lentils are next.  I’ve never eaten lentils, let alone cooked, them, but I got what I needed at the Middle Eastern shop at the City Market for less than a buck.

From a failed summer experiment trying to replicate Panda Express Chow Mein, I have a box full of Shandong Ramen Noodles that tomorrow I will turn into Chicken Chow Mein using the napa cabbage.  I happened to see a piece on The Perfect 3 today, on the Cooking Channel, so I think I can manage the Chow Mein.  More pics to follow.

This is me.  I cook, lots.  I sew, weird things.  I’m excited to share.